Blogs

The Donegal Democrat under the headline "What Donegal Men Sounded Like Nearly a Century Ago" describes a stunning treasure trove of recordings of native Irish speakers telling fanciful tales captured by a German academic more than 85 years ago. This archive is now available on line under the auspices of the Royal Irish Academy.  The Irish Minister for Education and Skills, Rauiri Quinn, presided over the formal launch of the on-line archive at a ceremony in Dublin. 

" We have drawn up a list of people who are willing to act  - campaigns like this have worked in the past and we are ready to do it again." - Robin Farrar

The BBC are reporting that "Language campaigners say they will start a campaign of non-violent action unless policies to protect Welsh are put in place."   The headline is based on statements made by Robin Farrar, Chairman of the Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas Yr Laith). 

Wales Online reports: "A row has broken out over plans that could see more compulsory teaching of the Welsh language in English medium schools across Wales."  This follows on recent news reports that a broad coalition, including Rugby Coach Robin McBryde and MP Susan Elan Jones, have called in a letter to the Welsh First Minister, Carwyn Jones, to universally introduce the teaching of subject matter in Welsh schools in the Welsh language so as to strengthen proficiency: "abolish the teaching of Welsh as a 'second language' like French or Spanish."

In promoting the increasingly outdated idea of being ‘British’, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is attempting to try and counter the latest census results. The recently released 2011 Census results of the island of Britain reveals that 62.4% of people in Scotland see themselves as solely Scottish and 57.5% in Wales as solely Welsh. Just 18.3% of people in Scotland declared themselves to be “Scottish and British identities only” and only 8.4% in Scotland saw themselves as “British identity only”.

The website of the "The Tablet", a British Catholic Weekly which has been published continually since 1840, reports that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vannes, located in southern Brtittany, has announced its intention to incorporate the Celtic tongue of Brittany into it's liturgical texts, hymns, catechism lessons and information services.  This is a further sign of the strengthening movement to preserve, protect and promote the Breton language.

The Dingle Peninsula (Corca Duibhne) will be the home of the Irish Language and Gaeltachta Development Centre.  The Centre is sponsored by a partnership between the the Irish Government's "Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht" along with the "Gaeltacht Authority" (Udaras na Gaeltachta). The Centre is under construction in Ballyferriter (Baile an Fheirearaigh) on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Gaeltachta.

Scots Gaelic, an official language of Scotland, is in the news this week as the Glasgow City Council have announced a "Four Year Gaelic Language Plan". The plan is in compliance with the Gaelic Language Act of 2005 under which local Councils are required to prepare a plan for promoting and preserving the tongue. This action by the Council will fuel the resurgence of Gaelic in Glasgow and follows up on the announcement earlier this year of plans to open the citys second Gaelic medium primary school.

Message from BZH (Association of Bretons in New York) bzh-ny.org

Fri 27 September 2013-Fest Noz in NYC tonight!!!

Celtic people all have a name for it.....ceili, craic agus ceoil, fest noz, beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn,basically a real fun time!!!

Figures now released from the 2011 Census of Scotland have shown that a majority of the people of Scotland see themselves as Scottish only and not British. Responding to a question about nationality 62.4% said they saw themselves as “Scottish identity only”. Just 18.3% declared that they were “Scottish and British identities only”. Those who saw themselves as “British identity only” numbered only 8.4%.  

When on September 11 2013 the European Parliament adopted a resolution on protecting minority languages it did so by an overwhelming majority vote of 645 to 26. Not surprisingly amongst those voting against were French Centre-right MEPs claiming that it violated the unity of the French Republic.